This invention relates, generally, to improvements and innovations in pipe anchors of the type used for anchoring pipes or conduits to structural members, particularly, train pipes to structural members in the underframes of railway cars. Pipe anchors of this general type are known and disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,546,792 dated Mar. 27, 1951, Pat. No. 2,625,354 dated Jan. 13, 1953, Pat. No. 4,222,538 dated Sep. 16, 1980 and Ser. No. 08/081,790 filed Jun. 23, 1993.
Pipe anchors of this general type comprise an anchor base and a drivable clamping wedge which mates with the anchor base and secures a pipe in the anchor base. Pipe anchors of this general type are in commercial use, particularly in the rail car industry. While there are installations in which anchor bases of the correct dimensions can be directly attached to a structural member as by welding, there are other installations in which the anchor bases either do not have the correct dimensions or cannot be directly secured to the structural member but, instead, have to be spaced a predetermined distance therefrom. In such latter installations, it is customary to utilize specially designed and dimensioned brackets or connectors to interconnect the anchor bases to the structural members. The need to use such special brackets or connectors adds significantly to the costs of the pipe anchor systems, both from the added cost of the special connectors and from the increased cost of the skilled labor involved. The alternative of making anchor bases in several different dimensions or sizes and maintaining inventories thereof is also costly.
According to the present invention, where brackets or other forms of connectors of special design and dimension have heretofore been used in connecting or attaching anchor bases to structural members, now any desired lengths of metal bars of standard and commonly available shapes (e.g. ordinary round pipe, right angle bars, channels and square tubes) are used as the connectors. A bar of standard shape such as round pipe is cut into pieces of any desired length and one end of each piece is readily inserted in a locating recess on an anchor base and secured therein as by welding. The opposite end of the connector piece is then attached, as by welding, to the structural member. When a piece of standard pipe is used as the connector, regardless of the orientation of the anchor base with respect to the structural member, the connector pipe will have the same section modulus.
Since common pipe in standard diameters (e.g. three-quarter inch, one inch and one and a quarter inch) is readily available at low cost, and pipe cutting equipment is likewise readily available, the present invention makes it practical to dispense with either using specially designed and dimensioned brackets and connectors, or using anchor bases that have mounting portions or sections of particular dimensions so as to permit direct attachment to the structural members. Likewise, bars of other standard shapes (e.g. angle iron, channels and square tubes) are commercially available in standard sizes and may be readily cut to length with common tools and may be used in place of pipe. While utilization of anchor bases of predetermined dimensions may avoid the necessity of using attaching brackets or the like, as a practical matter, since the anchor bases are either cast, forged or stamped and require special dies and tooling, the cost thereof adds considerably to the cost of the installations using such special anchor bases in pipe anchor systems. By utilizing inexpensive pieces of standard diameter pipe or of bars of other standard shapes it is possible according to the present invention to provide the appropriate surfaces of standard anchor bases with recesses into which one end of each piece of pipe or other shaped bar connector may be inserted and secured as by welding. Such recesses also serve as locators to enable a manufacturer to readily assemble the pieces of standard pipe or other shaped bars to standard anchor bases in a production plant and also permit workmen in the field to cut off pieces of standard pipe or other shaped bars of desired lengths and readily attach them to the anchor bases.
In light of the foregoing considerations, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that an important object of the invention is to materially reduce the cost of pipe anchor installations wherein lengths of pipe or conduit are anchored to structural members such as securing air lines or other train pipes to structural members in the underframes of railway cars.
A specific object of the invention is to make use of short pieces of readily available, inexpensive, standard shapes such as lengths of pipe, right angle bars, channels or rectangular tubes diameter pipe cut to any desired length as connectors in securing standard anchor bases of pipe anchors to structural members, thereby eliminating the need for using either brackets or connectors of special design and dimension, or the need for using pipe anchor bases having particular dimensions whereby they can be directly secured to a structural member. For example, several different sizes of cylindrical standard pipe can be used, e.g. three-quarter inch, one-inch and one and one-quarter inch diameter standard pipe.
A further important object of the invention is to facilitate, and thereby minimize the cost of attaching such short pieces of bars of standard shapes, e.g. standard diameter pipe, to standard anchor bases by providing the anchor bases with special pipe end or other shaped bar end receiving and locating recesses, thereby eliminating the need for special jigs or fixtures and making possible the fast and accurate assembly of the short lengths of standard pipe or of bars of other standard shapes of different standard dimensions to the standard anchor bases, either in a factory setting or in the field.
A further object of the invention is to provide standard anchor bases having special formations or recesses which can receive the ends of several different sizes of standard pipe or of bars of other standard shapes.
Certain other important objects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art when the following detailed descriptions of preferred embodiments thereof are considered along with the accompanying drawings, wherein: